Abolish unfair dismissal laws for all: Costello

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The federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, would support the
abolition of unfair dismissal protection for all workers, rather
than just those who work for firms with fewer than 100 staff, as
proposed under the Government's planned workplace changes.

"If this were to work well and people were to say, 'Well in the
years to come it should be extended to all companies', I would be
very open to the idea," he said.

In an interview with ABL Insight, a journal published by
the employer group Australian Business Limited, he said there was
"no magic in the number 100".

Mr Costello's remarks are part of a concerted effort to make his
mark beyond his portfolio in preparation for the leadership, and
yesterday he declared there would be no apology to Aborigines for
the stolen generation if he became prime minister.

"That's a debate that has completely passed," he told Sky News.
"I think the debate has got far too serious to worry about those
sorts of political issues it's now about people's lives, and
that's what I would focus on."

Mr Costello, who joined the reconciliation march in 2000 and
made a tour of remote Aboriginal communities in northern Queensland
last week, also issued a mild rebuke to MPs who called on John
Howard to stay on as Prime Minister. "I don't know that it's the
right thing to start engaging in feeding these issues out to the
press at the current time," he said.

Last night there was varied reaction to his comments on
industrial relations changes.

A spokesman for the Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews,
denied the Government had any plans to extend the abolition of the
unfair dismissal laws to Australia's 10 million workers. "There are
no plans to extend the system. We've still got to get this
legislation through," he said. "The Government has made a
collective decision that the exemption of firms of 100 [workers] or
less is the appropriate way to go because it allows them to grow
large without the spectre of unfair dismissal claims over their
shoulders."

The ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, thought Mr Costello was trying
to cement support from the more conservative elements in business
and the Liberal Party. "It is well known he argued in cabinet for
the most extreme positions. All these changes are now going to be
viewed through the prism of leadership," he said.

The Opposition's spokesman for workplace relations, Stephen
Smith, said the comments made it clear cabinet was toying with
scrapping completely the unfair dismissal laws. And the fact that
Mr Costello was happy to confirm his private view showed how little
co-operation there was between him and Mr Howard, and "how far the
Treasurer will go to undermine his own Prime Minister".

The Government has long supported scrapping unfair dismissal
laws for businesses with fewer than 20 workers on the grounds they
did not have the resources to defend themselves against spurious
claims, and that such litigation stunted employment.

But it is understood that even Mr Andrews was surprised when Mr
Howard chose to scrap the laws for companies with fewer than 100
workers.

The Government and employer groups say there is research which
shows anywhere between 50,000 and 75,000 new jobs could be created
by scrapping the laws. But others say the research either does not
exist or is bogus.

Chris Briggs, a researcher at Sydney University's centre for
employment research, said the figures were "fanciful" and that
Senate committees investigating the issue knocked them back.